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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Dove Self-Esteem Campaign, Thank You for Making a Difference!

As the parent of a tween daughter, I cannot say how much I appreciate Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. We have always been Dove users thanks to my husband's sensitive skin and I can say that I am proud to be a part of what they are doing to increase self esteem in our youth.
As Moms we were all young once and know the pressures that girls face in regards to beauty. Fast-forward to motherhood and you will see that your daughters have all the pressures we faced coupled with multiple media outlets spreading it further than ever before. We have always told my daughter and that she is perfect since God created her the way he wanted her to be. I am so thankful that she will come home and openly talk to me about self-esteem issues. She is tiny by nature and we both had a good healthy laugh when she came home one day and asked me if she was anorexic because a friend had a book with pictures of girls who were and they could see their ribcage and she said she could see her ribcage too. We had a good discussion on the difference between being small and having an eating disorder. It wasn't much later that she hit a growth spurt and noticed her clothes getting a little snug and said "am I getting fat?" It is sad that it was the first thing she would ask. We had to laugh again because I told her at 60lbs she is far from fat! I also talked to her about growing and that there was no need for her to worry about her weight or size as long as she was eating right and staying active.

ABOUT THE DOVE® SELF-ESTEEEM FUND

(Copied directly from Dove's Press Release)

Too many girls and young women develop low self-esteem from hang-ups about looks and consequently fail to reach their full potential in later life. The Dove Self-Esteem Fund (DSEF) was established as an agent of change to inspire and educate girls and young women about a wider definition of beauty. The DSEF is committed to help girls build positive self-esteem and a healthy body image, with a goal of reaching 5 million girls globally by 2010. It has already reached 2 million young women.

The Dove Self-Esteem Fund is part of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, a global effort designed to widen today’s stereotypical view of beauty. In the U.S., the DSEF supports the Boys and Girls Club of America and the Girls Scouts of the USA to help build confidence in girls 8-17 with after-school programs, self-esteem building events and educational resources. In the United Kingdom and other countries, the Fund supports Body Talk, an educational program about body image and self-esteem in schools. Since 2006, the Dove brand has conducted nearly 2,700 self-esteem educational workshops around the world.

Please watch this short video to find out more about Dove's efforts and next time you go shopping for Soap, Shampoo, Deodorant or Beauty products reach for Dove and assist them in their efforts to build confidence in our children.

*No monetary compensation was provided for this post. As a participant in the Dove Campaign I was given Dove products and True You workbooks. This post was my own opinion and was not impacted by the products I received.

6 comments:

I was overweight as a child and very shy. I had very, very low self-esteem. It wasn't until I was in high school that I really felt accepting of myself, and was still very critical of my appearance and unsure of myself in social situations.

The Dove campaign is fantastic, but I think it's only one step. We as a society are putting more emphasis on looks, not less, as technology and science make it easier and more affordable to change our appearance. I'm in my mid 40's and it is so much harder on girls today than it was when I grew up in the 70's & 80's. Today young girls are on diets and talking about fat at younger and younger ages and often it comes from overly critical parents.

Dove deserves a great big thank you, and they should be recognized for the difference they are making.

I am so glad you posted about this. I have a 12 year old and it is amazing how bad she feels about herself even though we have provided her with a loving family. The pressures of the teen years are awful. We visited the site and she liked the quizzes. As a special treat, I am buying her the Dove fragrance sprays.